Method of making forged blanks and forgings



Jan. 27, 1953 w. w. CRILEY 2,626,453

METHOD OF MAKING FORGED BLANKS AND FORGINGS Filed Feb. 9, 1948 5 6 7 6 FZ577 INVENTOR.

. BY C F ,Q' GM flmiic/v 7 6 y ATTO/Q/VtfYS therefrom, respectively,

Patented Jan. 27, 1953 METHOD or MAKING FORGEDBLANKS' AND renames William w. Criley, Shaker Heights, Ohio, assignor to The Ajax Manufacturing Company, Euclid, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application February 9, 1948, Serial No. 7,074

This invention relates to a method of forming metal blanks from bar or billet stock and particularly to a method of forming forged steel blanks having elongated reduced or tapered end portions. I

For the purposes of illustration, the method is described herein as applied in the production of blanks from which spindles for the front wheels of automobiles are produced-its application to other types of blanks being apparent from the illustrative example.

In general, front wheel spindles of automobiles as presently used, while varying in detail, comprise essentially an elongated tapered spindle portion-for rotatably supporting the wheel and an eye or yoke adapted to receive a pivotfor mounting the spindle on the front axle of the vehicle.

Such spindles are'generally made from bar stock by roll forging one end portion of a length of stock or billet toward its extremity from an intermediate portion to provide an elongated portion which is tapered fromthe main body or intermediate portion of the metal toward the one end, then reversing the billet end for end and shaping it by roll forging the other end portion in like manner to produce a tapered portion atthe latter end of the billet. The billet resulting from these operations comprises a central or intermediate portion from the ends of whichend-portions which taper toward the extremities ofthe roll forged bil1et-extend-in opposite-directions.

Subsequently,-the billet thus formed is placed in suitable impression dies and forged, the tapered portions forming-the spindle portion of the final forging and the larger crosssectiona-l midportion or intermediate portion of the billet forming-the yoke or eye portion ofthe final forging. By this prior method, two forgings are formed from a single length of billet which is preformed by two roll forging operations-as above described, the yoke portions being adjacent each other and the spindle portions projecting in opposite directions and the forgings being connected together by flash metal.

lhis prior method has serious objections. For

example, if the billet is reduced rapidly by roll forging, the surface metal flows to a greater extent than th core of metal, thus producing on each end what is commonly termed a pipe or a fish tail, that is, a deep crease or notch which extends entirely across the end, and is open at the end, of the billet.

The fish tail or pipe can be eliminated by reducing the end portions of --the-bi-llet more gradually in the roll forging stages but in such the method expensive.

2 eventQ'the time consumed is so great as to'r'end'er Otherwise, "the "ffish tailed end must be cropped or 'throwninto' the tong hold or flash of the forging with a consequent loss of metal. In any event a double blank thus formed requires double handling'of the billet in the forging 'rolls' and twice as many forging rolls for maintaining a given production.

According to the present invention, all ofthejse difficulties are overcome by a single handling 'of the billet in connection with the forging roll operationsftwice as many blanks "areproduced in much less time by the same personnel, only half as many forging rolls are required for supplying a given forging press, the billet is held by the .same end throughout the roll forgingope'rations, greater reduction in cross section is'obtained in the larger passes of the roller dies, and the've'ry objectionable fish tailing is entirely eliminated,

with the result that'metal is conserved,eropping of the blank is eliminated, and better and more uniform blanks are provided.

One of the principal objects of the present invention is to produce" more efficiently from bar or billet stock, blanks having'redu'cedend portions.

Anotherobject isto'reduce the time and'number of forging rolls required for'roll'for'g'ing billets into blanks for spindles and the like, and teen-m1- nate the loss of metaland the undesirabl"fish tailing which occurin' the prior methods.

Other obj ects and advantages 'will become 'apparent" from the following" description, "wherein reference is made to thedrawin'gs', in which:

Fig. 1- is a diagrammatic cross sectional view of a pair of forging rolls and their associated'dies used in practicing the present method;

Figs. 2, 3, and 4 are diagrammatic cross'sectional views of the roller dies and are taken on lines 22, 33, and 4-4, respectively, of Fig. 5;

Fig. 5 is atop plan view of the lower roller die illustrated in Figs. 1 through 4 showing'four roll forging stages;

Figs. 6, 7, and flare diagrammatic illustrations oftheth'roats' of the roller dies and aretaken Y on lines 66, 1-4, and 8il,"respectively, of

Fig. 5;

Fig. 9 is aside elevation of a blank produced by the roller dies of Figs. 1 through 8;

Fig. 10 is a side elevation of a forging forged from one of the blanks of the present invention by one forging method;

a Fig. 11 is aside elevation of another forging f or ged :from I a {blank-pf the present invention illustrating another manner of forging;

Fig. 12 is a side elevation of a modified form of blank; and

Fig. 13 is a pair of automobile front wheel spindle forgings formed from the blank illustrated in Fig. 12.

Referring to Fig. 1, a pair of forging rolls is illustrated and comprises an upper or top roll I and a lower or bottom roll 2, these rolls being provided with a top die 3 and a lower die 4, respectively, the dies being secured to the rolls by suitable bolts as illustrated. The dies 3 and 4 are arranged to provide a plurality of grooves for forming a billet of bar or billet stock into a blank of the shape desired.

In the illustrative example, four sets of grooves, each set comprisin a different roll forging stage, are provided. Since the top and bottom dies are symmetrical, only the die 4 is illustrated in Figs. 2 through 4. The grooves comprising the four stages are indicated at 5, 6, 1, and 8, respectively, in Figs. 1 through 4, respectively. In plan view of the bottom die 4, shown in Fig. 5, the grooves 5 through 8, correspond respectively, to roll forging stages I through IV.

In Figs. 6, '7, and 8, there are shown diagrammatically the cross sectional shapes of the cooperating grooves at various distances therealong from the mouths or entrance ends, each figure being taken progressively farther from the mouths.

The circumferential limits of the different portions of each groove are indicated in Figs. 1 through 4 by the radial lines and designations AA through KK, lines bearing corresponding letters being used to represent the corresponding portions of the grooves in Fig. 5, and corresponding letters being used to indicate corresponding portions in Figs. 6 through 8.

The rolls thus illustrated provide a roll forged billet In such as illustrated in Fig. 9. The billet is preferably forged from round cornered square billet stock of a size depending upon the size of the blank required. As illustrated in Fig. 9, the roll forged billet ID has end portions II which are substantially the same size as the original stock. The end portions II are preferably unchanged in cross section durin the roll forging operation, but may be reduced slightly during roll forging if desired. The bar stock or billet is shaped by passing it through the successive stages or sets of grooves of the forging roll dies, rotating the billet about its axis between successive passes, by which it is reduced at a portion between its ends, preferably at its mid-portion, in the first stage and then gradually reduced progressively farther at the mid-portion and therefrom toward the end portions II in successive stages. As a result, a dual blank is formed having end portions l I of greater cross section than the intermediate or mid-portions I2. The lengths of the end portions II and portions I2 may vary considerably depending upon the particular forging to be forged from the blank. The blank thus forged is cut in two crosswise at or near the longitudinal center, as indicated by the line I3 in Fig. 9, thus forming two blanks which usually are approximately identical. In severing the two end portions of the blanks along the line I3, care is taken to make a straight-across clean cut.

Thus, by roll forging a single billet, while holdin it by the same end throughout all of the roll forging operations, so as to reduce the cross section of an intermediate portion and taper the intermediate portion outwardly toward the end portions and cutting the roll forged billet in two at a longitudinally intermediate portion, two blanks are produced. The labor and time of handling is reduced as the stock is forged while held at the same end at all times during roll forging. Furthermore, fish tailing is entirely eliminated.

The two resultant blanks thus roll forged lend themselves to different methods of forging. As one example, each of the resultant blanks may be forged singly fiatwise in impression dies. Thus a forging such as illustrated in Fig. 10 may be produced, the forging comprising a front wheel spindle I4 having a spindle portion I5 and eye IS, the fiash metal being indicated at I1. Allowance of metal for gripping by the usual tongs is made in the length of the portion I2 of each blank when roll forging the billet 10, the portion so allowed being indicated at I8 in Fig. 10. This method is particularly desirable in the case of round cornered billet stock of from three to three and one-half inches to the side.

As another example, such a spindle forging may be forged singly by upending one of the resultant roll forged blanks. The forging thus produced is illustrated in Fig. 11, the forging being indicated generally at I9 and comprising a tapered spindle portion 20, and eye portion 2|, the flash metal being indicated at 22. This method is particularly useful when using round cornered billet stock of from two to two and onehalf inches to the side.

In each of these illustrative examples, it is apparent that the shape of the portion I2 of the blank may be so close to the shape of spindle portion desired that very little additional change therein need occur in the die to form the spindle portion, such as indicated at I5 in Fig. 10 and at 20 in Fig. 11. The absence of any fish tail or "pipe at the small end of the blank is particularly important when the blank is to be forged by up ending, as described in connection with Fig. 11.

Referring next to Fig. 12, a blank similar to one of the blanks formed by cutting in two crosswise at its reduced intermediate portion a roll forged billet such as illustrated in Fig. 9 to form two resultant blanks is provided. In this connection it must be noted that the portions II of the billet should be somewhat longer than in the former examples to provide sufficient metal for an additional spindle forging. The resultant blank thus formed may be fullered or drawn before the impression die forming operations. For example, such a blank, comprising one end portion II and reduced elongated portion l2 may be fullered to the shape illustrated in Fig. 12 in the same press or hammer as is used for the impression die formin operations. This is done by forming a reduced neck 23 between the ends of the enlarged portion II of the blank with enlargements indicated at 24 jumped up at each end of the reduced portion 23. The portion 25 remains the same as the portion I2 of the original blank. Simultaneously, the extremity or free end of the enlarged portion I I is reduced and tapered, as indicated at 26. Approximately three blows of the press or hammer are suflicient for these operations. The blank illustrated in Fig. 12 is next placed in suitable impression dies in which it is forged to the shape illustrated in Fig. 13, thus producing two spindle forgings having their yoke portions 21 adjacent each other and their spindle portions 28 extending in opposite directions therefrom, the two spindle forgings being formed simultaneously from the blank illus- 5 trated in Fig. 12. In such a die forming operation, the portion 26 of the blank will flow readily without excessive flash so as to form one of the spindle portions 28, whereas the other spindle portion 28 is formed by the already tapered portion 25 of the blank.

Thus, two blanks may be rolled simultaneously at one handling without a fish tail or loss of stock. By following the modification of the practice as described in connection with Figs. 12 and 13, blanks for producing four spindle forgings are rolled by a single rolling operation. In this instance also, allowance is made in the portions 12 of the billet to provide a tong grip 29 on the blank.

It has been found that blanks can be reduced more than 50% in cross section in the larger passes by the roll forging operation described without any fish tailing, which is a much greater reduction than is possible without fish tailing when it is attempted to roll forge a billet in accordance with the prior method wherein the billet is tapered from an intermediate or midportion toward the end. The reduction of the mid-portion instead of the ends not only provides a mechanical reinforcement to reduce the possibility of fish tailing but also conserves the heat at the smallest cross section from which it would normally dissipate rapidly were the smallest cross section at the free ends of the main body of the metal. Accordingly, in the present method, the metal blanks are formed from elongated billets by reducing the cross section of a portion thereof between the ends and then cutting the billet in two with a clean cut crosswise, preferably at the longitudinal mid-portion of the reduced cross section thereby producing two blanks which are substantially duplicates of each other or are sufiiciently near duplicates for all practical purposes. It is apparent, however, that variations may be made when the blank is rolled so that it is not symmetrical about a longitudinal mid-portion and such use is of advantage in those instances wherein forglngs of considerably difierent shape from each other are being made during a given run of the press. Thus, the press or die space may be used to advantage in such instances by forming two differently shaped articles at the same time, the blank being roll forged so that when out in two at a portion of small cross section, though at some point spaced from the mid-portion, one severed part can be used for forging of one shape, and the other severed part for a forging of a different shape. Though the method has been shown for purposes of illustration as applied to front wheel spindle forgings, it is apparent that it is useful for many other types of forgings, a few examples being turbine blades, yokes, turnbuckle jaws, gasoline engine connecting rods, and other forgings having enlarged heads and comparatively slender bodies or shanks.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

The method of forming a plurality of metal articles each having a wide portion and a relatively narrow elongated portion extending therefrom, which comprises the steps of roll-forging a billet lengthwise to reduce the same in transverse cross-section relative to and intermediate the two end portions thereof, cutting such rollforged billet in two in such reduced portion to form two blanks, each having a large end portion and a small end portion, thereafter further working each such blank individually by drawing such large end portion to form a neck in such large end portion substantially reduced over a substantial longitudinal extent with a thicker portion to either side of such neck, forming the outer extremity of such large end portion into a reduced outwardly tapering portion, and then forging each such blank to form simultaneously a pair of such articles having their respective wide portions adjacent each other and their respective narrow elongated portions extending in opposite directions.

WILLIAM W. CRILEY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 369,488 Wellman Sept. 6, 1887 456,570 Hill July 28, 1891 655,721 Lanz Aug. 14, 1900 881,399 Hansen Mar. 10, 1908 1,101,813 Rice. June 30, 1914 1,446,447 Bingham Feb. 27, 1923 1,470,413 Wilcox Oct. 9, 1923 1,474,516 Eicher Nov. 20, 1923 1,707,778 Witherow Apr. 2, 1929 1,756,376 Moore Apr. 29, 1930 2,201,071 Baugnee May 14, 1940 2,239,203 Rendleman Apr. 22, 1941 2,303,784 Archer Dec. 1, 1942 

